An Overview and Thematic Analysis of Research on Cities and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Toward Just, Resilient, and Sustainable Urban Planning and Design

Overview

Journal iScience

Publisher Cell Press

Date 2022 Oct 17

PMID 36246575

Authors

Ayyoob Sharifi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Since early 2020, researchers have made efforts to study various issues related to cities and the pandemic. Despite the wealth of research on this topic, there are only a few review articles that explore multiple issues related to it. This is partly because of the rapid pace of publications that makes systematic literature review challenging. To address this issue, in the present study, we rely on bibliometric analysis techniques to gain an overview of the knowledge structure and map key themes and trends of research on cities and the pandemic. Results of the analysis of 2,799 articles show that research mainly focuses on six broad themes: air quality, meteorological factors, built environment factors, transportation, socio-economic disparities, and smart cities, with the first three being dominant. Based on the findings, we discuss major lessons that can be learned from the pandemic and highlight key areas that need further research.

Citing Articles

Green Villages, the Pandemic, and the Future of California Urbanism.

Davids R Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2025; 21(12.

PMID: 39767432 PMC: 11675345. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph21121591.

COVID and consumers' food strategies in Madrid, Spain: Towards a resilient city-region food system approach.

Cruz J, Gonzalez-Azcarate M, Hewitt R, Hernandez-Jimenez V, Bardaji I Heliyon. 2024; 10(23):e40565.

PMID: 39669137 PMC: 11636116. DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e40565.

Dual hybrid frameworks combining graph convolutional network with decoding for covering location problem.

Zhang Y, Wang S, Liang H, Li X, Wang Z, Lu H iScience. 2024; 27(5):109803.

PMID: 38746667 PMC: 11091676. DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109803.

The relational shift in urban ecology: From place and structures to multiple modes of coproduction for positive urban futures.

Pickett S, Simone A, Anderson P, Sharifi A, Barau A, Hoover F Ambio. 2024; 53(6):845-870.

PMID: 38643341 PMC: 11058174. DOI: 10.1007/s13280-024-02001-y.

Editorial: The physical environment and health: implications for the planning and management of healthy cities.

Yang L, He B, Cheng L, Wang R, Ao Y Front Public Health. 2023; 11:1245561.

PMID: 37601193 PMC: 10436207. DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1245561.

References

Ogen Y . Assessing nitrogen dioxide (NO) levels as a contributing factor to coronavirus (COVID-19) fatality. Sci Total Environ. 2020; 726:138605. PMC: 7151460. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138605. View

Alidadi M, Sharifi A . Effects of the built environment and human factors on the spread of COVID-19: A systematic literature review. Sci Total Environ. 2022; 850:158056. PMC: 9383943. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158056. View

Liu C, Liu Z, Guan C . The impacts of the built environment on the incidence rate of COVID-19: A case study of King County, Washington. Sustain Cities Soc. 2021; 74:103144. PMC: 8271037. DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2021.103144. View

Tian F, Liu X, Chao Q, Qian Z, Zhang S, Qi L . Ambient air pollution and low temperature associated with case fatality of COVID-19: A nationwide retrospective cohort study in China. Innovation (Camb). 2021; 2(3):100139. PMC: 8226106. DOI: 10.1016/j.xinn.2021.100139. View

Kashem S, Baker D, Gonzalez S, Lee C . Exploring the nexus between social vulnerability, built environment, and the prevalence of COVID-19: A case study of Chicago. Sustain Cities Soc. 2021; 75:103261. PMC: 8459204. DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2021.103261. View

De Vos J . The effect of COVID-19 and subsequent social distancing on travel behavior. Transp Res Interdiscip Perspect. 2021; 5:100121. PMC: 7180344. DOI: 10.1016/j.trip.2020.100121. View

Maiti A, Zhang Q, Sannigrahi S, Pramanik S, Chakraborti S, Cerda A . Exploring spatiotemporal effects of the driving factors on COVID-19 incidences in the contiguous United States. Sustain Cities Soc. 2021; 68:102784. PMC: 7894099. DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2021.102784. View

Thombre A, Agarwal A . A paradigm shift in urban mobility: Policy insights from travel before and after COVID-19 to seize the opportunity. Transp Policy (Oxf). 2022; 110:335-353. PMC: 9761558. DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2021.06.010. View

Diao Y, Kodera S, Anzai D, Gomez-Tames J, Rashed E, Hirata A . Influence of population density, temperature, and absolute humidity on spread and decay durations of COVID-19: A comparative study of scenarios in China, England, Germany, and Japan. One Health. 2020; 12:100203. PMC: 7736723. DOI: 10.1016/j.onehlt.2020.100203. View

10.

Menebo M . Temperature and precipitation associate with Covid-19 new daily cases: A correlation study between weather and Covid-19 pandemic in Oslo, Norway. Sci Total Environ. 2020; 737:139659. PMC: 7258804. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139659. View

11.

Lal R . Home gardening and urban agriculture for advancing food and nutritional security in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Food Secur. 2020; 12(4):871-876. PMC: 7311182. DOI: 10.1007/s12571-020-01058-3. View

12.

Xie J, Zhu Y . Association between ambient temperature and COVID-19 infection in 122 cities from China. Sci Total Environ. 2020; 724:138201. PMC: 7142675. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138201. View

13.

Tian H, Liu Y, Li Y, Wu C, Chen B, Kraemer M . An investigation of transmission control measures during the first 50 days of the COVID-19 epidemic in China. Science. 2020; 368(6491):638-642. PMC: 7164389. DOI: 10.1126/science.abb6105. View

14.

Ethan C, Mokoena K, Yu Y . Air Pollution Status in 10 Mega-Cities in China during the Initial Phase of the COVID-19 Outbreak. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021; 18(6). PMC: 8003380. DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18063172. View

15.

de Lannoy L, Rhodes R, Moore S, Faulkner G, Tremblay M . Regional differences in access to the outdoors and outdoor play of Canadian children and youth during the COVID-19 outbreak. Can J Public Health. 2020; 111(6):988-994. PMC: 7556599. DOI: 10.17269/s41997-020-00412-4. View

16.

Menut L, Bessagnet B, Siour G, Mailler S, Pennel R, Cholakian A . Impact of lockdown measures to combat Covid-19 on air quality over western Europe. Sci Total Environ. 2020; 741:140426. PMC: 7309726. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140426. View

17.

Devine-Wright P, Pinto de Carvalho L, Di Masso A, Lewicka M, Manzo L, Williams D . "Re-placed" - Reconsidering relationships with place and lessons from a pandemic. J Environ Psychol. 2022; 72:101514. PMC: 9756113. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvp.2020.101514. View

18.

Wrigley-Field E, Garcia S, Leider J, Van Riper D . COVID-19 Mortality At The Neighborhood Level: Racial And Ethnic Inequalities Deepened In Minnesota In 2020. Health Aff (Millwood). 2021; 40(10):1644-1653. PMC: 8562777. DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2021.00365. View

19.

Sharma G, Tiwari A, Jain M, Yadav A, Srivastava M . COVID-19 and environmental concerns: A rapid review. Renew Sustain Energy Rev. 2021; 148:111239. PMC: 8189823. DOI: 10.1016/j.rser.2021.111239. View

20.

Baldasano J . COVID-19 lockdown effects on air quality by NO in the cities of Barcelona and Madrid (Spain). Sci Total Environ. 2020; 741:140353. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140353. View